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Letters to the Editor

Support access to Alzheimer’s treatment

Breanna Cowan, Minot More than 6 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia— and 15,000 live in North Dakota alone. Like many Americans, this devastating disease has touched my family multiple times, including taking the life of my grandmother, Clarice. My daughter shares her name even though Alzheimer’s stole my grandmother from us long before they could meet. Last month, I traveled from Minot to Washington, D.C. with the Alzheimer’s Association and other advocates across the country. We came together to address the unprecedented decision made by ...

One name missing from wild horse supporters

Christine Kman, Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates, Dickinson The wild horses of Theodore Roosevelt National Park have received a lot of support since the park announced their plans to eliminate the ENTIRE herd of horses from the park in December. Governor Burgum, Senator Cramer, and Senator Hoeven have all spoken out in favor of keeping the horses. Our North Dakota legislators have submitted a resolution, SCR 4014, into this session asking that the park allow the wild horses and longhorn cattle to stay. Organizations, newspapers and businesses from all across the state have all ...

Which states will win?

Josh Wolsky, Minot For half of you, this may be hard. Imagine you’re a 30-year-old woman. But you’re not just any woman. Eight years ago, you got your undergraduate degree in biology; it was the recommended major for those pursuing a career in medicine. After college, you applied, got accepted, and then completed medical school. Four years ago, you got accepted into a 4-year residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology. You’re among the nearly 90% of OBGYN specialists beginning professional practice this year who are women. The specialty is dominated by women, obviously. ...

Referendum possible against cigar bar bill

Clarence F. “Rick” Olson, Fargo Gov. Doug Burgum signed House Bill 1229, which would authorize cigar bars and lounges in North Dakota starting Aug. 1st. This is a step back from a comprehensive ban on smoking in public places, which includes restaurants, bars, hotel, and motel rooms; that North Dakota voters enacted via an initiated statutory measure in 2012. To those who support this legislation, I say not so fast. A public advocacy group called BreatheND spent a number of years and quite a lot of money in fighting for a comprehensive clean indoors air law here in North ...

School lunch budget reflects values

Rep. Zac Ista, Grand Forks There’s a saying in politics: “Don’t tell me what your values are. Show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what your values are.” Well, some North Dakota lawmakers value subsidizing private schools and feeding themselves more than they value feeding schoolchildren, because the legislature passed laws to give away $10M per year of public money to private schools and to increase their own meal stipends by nearly $1M. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans defeated a bill to invest $6M per biennium in no-cost school meals for more families. Opponents of ...

Legislators taking citizen rights away with SB1273

Jed Limke, Fargo, ND Q: When is 95 > 30,092? Back in 2015, we had a special election to fill a Fargo City Commission seat that was vacated, indirectly, due to the death of Mayor Walaker. The winner of that election won with four-out-of-every-five Fargo voters not voting for him. The following year at our regular June election, seven-out-of-every-ten Fargo voters didn’t vote for the first-place finisher of that one, either. To address this, a group of Fargo citizens from every walk of life and political creed volunteered to collect signatures for a ballot measure to amend ...